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This American Flag Cupcake Cake is a fun way to make a “cake” for Memorial Day or July 4th! The flag shape is perfectly festive and it’s simple to put together. Plus, the ease of pulling the cupcakes apart makes it great for a group!
This post is sponsored by Domino® Sugar, but all opinions are my own.
American Flag Cupcake Cake
While I’m always a fan of a good and beautifully decorated cake, there are occasions where simple is nice. Memorial Day can certainly be one of those occasions. If you’re getting together for a potluck with friends, a dessert that can be served easily is quite nice. I love this cupcake cake because it is super easy to decorate but looks grand, and the fact that it’s cupcakes makes it easy for people to just grab one and eat it. No cutting or plates required.
If you think it looks intimidating, I’m promise that it just how it looks. It’s as simple as baking some cupcakes, frosting them and then placing them in order so that they form a flag. The hardest part is having the right size dish to build the flag on and transport it. I’d recommend a large sheet pan, if you don’t have a platter that’s large enough.
When it comes to the flavor of these cupcakes, they are a vanilla cupcake with almond buttercream. You can certainly adjust those flavors to your liking, but the almond buttercream just adds that extra little something special. If you decide to mix up the flavors, just keep in mind that white buttercream is going to be best so that the colors come through in the flag.
Ingredients
Although these cupcakes are pretty straight forward, do not be fooled. They aren’t your average cupcake. They are tender and delicious with the help of Domino® Sugar in the cupcakes and buttercream.
For the vanilla cupcakes:
- All purpose flour
- Baking Powder: For rise
- Salt: For flavor. Never underestimate your salt.
- Unsalted Butter
- Vegetable Oil: Using both butter and oil gives these cupcakes the right mix of flavor and moisture.
- Domino® Golden Sugar: This is a newer sugar from Domino® and it’s so great to bake with! It’s a less-processed sugar that works cup-for-cup just like white sugar. It also has just a hint of molasses flavor, which adds lovely flavor to these cupcakes.
- Vanilla Extract: A good quality vanilla is nice, since it’s giving these cupcakes their flavor.
- Eggs
- Milk: I use 2%, but whole milk would work as well.
For the almond buttercream:
- Unsalted Butter: Should be room temperature.
- Domino® Powdered Sugar: This extra-fine powdered sugar not only adds sweetness to your buttercream, it also adds volume and thickens it.
- Almond Extract:
- Heavy Whipping Cream: You could also use water or milk, but cream does give a really nice texture.
- Salt: To taste.
- Red and Blue Gel Icing Color: You’ll want to be sure to gels here. They are thicker and more concentrated, which helps give you the bold red and blue colors. Food coloring will not give you the same result.
How to Make an American Flag Cupcake Cake
The first thing you’ll do is make your cupcakes. They use the creaming method and are quick to put together.
When the cupcakes are cooled, you’ll want to make your buttercream frosting. Divide the frosting between three bowls and leave one of them as is for the white, color one bowl red and the last bowl blue. Keep in mind when using your gel icing colors that the color intensifies as it sits.
Add your frostings to piping bags fitted with a medium sized open or closed star tip. I used the Ateco 844 tip, but the Wilton 1M works as well.
Pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes in a rosette design. You’ll need six that are blue, nine that are white and nine that are red. Pipe some white “stars” onto the blue cupcakes. I added four onto each blue cupcake using the Ateco tip 843, but any smaller star tip should work well.
Finally, arrange your cupcakes into a flag design. See the photos of the flag for reference.
Tips for Success
This American Flag Cupcake Cake is a breeze to make, but here are a few tips and things to keep in mind as you make it:
- Make Frosting Ahead: The frosting can easily be made ahead. It lasts well in the fridge for about a week or frozen for up to 3 months. If you make it ahead and refrigerate it, you’ll just need to bring it back to room temperature and give it a good stir before using it.
- Make Cupcakes Ahead: The cupcakes can definitely be made the day before frosting and serving. I’d keep them in an air tight container at room temperature.
- Use Gel Food Coloring: Gel food coloring is generally more pigmented than liquid food coloring, so you’ll want to use that. Add coloring until you’re satisfied with the shade of your frosting.
- Frost the Perfect Cupcake: If you aren’t really sure how to pipe a rosette, check out my How To Frost Cupcakes tutorial for pictures and video.
- Serving Platter: The “cake” can be assembled right on a table or on a large platter. If you don’t have a platter that’s large enough, a sheet pan would work.
I hope you love this cupcake cake as much as we did! It’s festive and delicious!
Watch How To Make Them
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American Flag Cupcake Cake
- Prep Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 36 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours 6 minutes
- Yield: 24 cupcakes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Description
This American Flag Cupcake Cake is a fun way to make a “cake” for Memorial Day or July 4th! The flag shape is perfectly festive and it’s simple to put together. Plus, the ease of pulling the cupcakes apart makes it great for a group!
Ingredients
Cupcakes
- 2 1/2 cups (325g) all purpose flour
- 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3/4 cup (168g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 4 tbsp (60ml) vegetable oil
- 1 1/2 cups (310g) Domino® Golden Sugar
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 4 large eggs
- 1 1/4 cups (300ml) milk
Buttercream
- 2 cups (448g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 8 cups (920g) Domino® Powdered Sugar
- 2 tsp almond extract
- 3–5 tbsp (45ml-75ml) heavy whipping cream
- Salt, to taste
- Red and blue gel icing color
Instructions
Vanilla Cupcakes
- Preheat oven to 350°F (176°C) and prepare a cupcake pan with cupcake liners.
- Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium sized bowl and set aside.
- Add the butter, sugar, oil and vanilla extract to a large mixer bowl and beat together until light in color and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes. Do not skimp on the creaming time.
- Add the eggs one at a time, mixing until mostly combined after each. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed to be sure all ingredients are well incorporated.
- Add half of the dry ingredients to the batter and mix until mostly combined.
- Slowly add the milk and mix until well combined. The batter will look curdled, but that’s ok.
- Add the remaining dry ingredients and mix until well combined and smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed to be sure all ingredients are well incorporated. Do not over mix the batter.
- Fill the cupcake liners about 3/4 full and bake for 15-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Remove cupcakes from the oven and place on a cooling rack to cool.
Almond Buttercream Frosting
- Add the butter to a large mixer bowl and beat until smooth.
- Add about half of the powdered sugar and mix until smooth and well combined.
- Add the almond extract and 2 tablespoons of the cream to the frosting and mix until well combined.
- Add the remaining powdered sugar and mix until smooth. Add additional cream as needed to get the right consistency. Add salt to taste.
- Divide the buttercream evenly into three bowls, about 2 cups each. Leave one white, color one with red gel icing color and color the other with blue gel icing color.
To Assemble The Cupcakes
- Frost each cupcake with in a buttercream rosette design. I used Ateco tip 844, but Wilton 1M would also work well. You’ll need six that are blue, nine that are white and nine that are red.
- Pipe four “stars” onto each of the blue frosted cupcakes. I used Ateco tip 843, but any smaller star tip should work well.
- Assemble the cupcakes in 4 rows. Going left to right, the top row should have three blue cupcakes, then three red. The second row should have three blue cupcakes, then three white cupcakes. The third row should be all red – six total across. The fourth row should be all white – six total across. Assemble your cupcakes on the table you’ll serve them on, or on a large platter so that you can transport them.
- Cupcakes should be find at room temperature for about 24 hours, but then should be refrigerated. They should keep well for about 3-4 days. Best served at room temperature.
Notes
- Make Frosting Ahead: The frosting can easily be made ahead. It lasts well in the fridge for about a week or frozen for up to 3 months. If you make it ahead and refrigerate it, you’ll just need to bring it back to room temperature and give it a good stir before using it.
- Make Cupcakes Ahead: The cupcakes can definitely be made the day before frosting and serving. I’d keep them in an air tight container at room temperature.
- Use Gel Food Coloring: Gel food coloring is generally more pigmented than liquid food coloring, so you’ll want to use that. Add coloring until you’re satisfied with the shade of your frosting.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cupcake
- Calories: 480
- Sugar: 52.5 g
- Sodium: 71 mg
- Fat: 24.6 g
- Carbohydrates: 63.7 g
- Protein: 3.1 g
- Cholesterol: 88.2 mg
Made these this past weekend—they were a hit! Great texture to the cake and the almond buttercream is delicious. Wasn’t able to get the intense colors that you did for the frosting, but still looked festive and beautiful. Thank you for another awesome recipe!!!
I always use water for my buttercream frosting because I worry about the cream/milk going bad if cakes aren’t refrigerated. Do I need to be concerned about this? I am excited to make these for Memorial Day!
Hi Lindsay! This Flag ‘cake’ is adorable! Normally I don’t comment until after I’ve tried a recipe, but I wanted to know if you can disclose what brand of gel color you used, as well as the color names? I typically use Americolor, but it seems to take an awful lot of that gel to achieve the colors you show here for the red and blue. I appreciate any advice you can give. Thank you for another yummy recipe!